The Proclaimer

Don't Listen To Some Things

“Also take not heed unto all words that are spoken, lest thou hear thy servant curse thee; for often times also thine own heart knoweth that thou thyself likewise hast cursed others” (Ecclesiastes 7:21, 22).

I suspect we have all experienced someone saying something ugly about us that is just not true.  False accusations are easily made and slander is seldom said to one’s face.  How do we respond in such situations?  Do we become so livid and incensed that we become vindictive toward the slanderer?  Are we so determined to “set him straight” that we end up confirming his accusations?  It seems to me that there are two points made by Solomon in this passage that we ought to remember.

First of all, we ought not to pay any attention to some things that we hear.  Jesus said, “Take heed what you hear” (Mark 4:24).  We are not to listen to some things.  Most of the time slander is advanced by gossip.  Not only is the one who gossips involved in a sinful practice, so is the one who listens.  Gossip ceases when no one will listen.  The one who “sojourns” in the “tabernacle” of God is not only the one that “slandereth not with his tongue,” but the one who refuses to “take up a reproach against his neighbor” (Psalm 15:1-3). 

Jesus also said, “Take heed how you hear” (Luke 8:18).  There are some things that we simply cannot avoid hearing.  But how we hear them makes all the difference.  We need to think the best of people rather than the worst.  We need to give them the benefit of the doubt.  Things are sometimes said that are never intended to be taken the way that some folks take them.  Feelings are hurt unintentionally.  And while it may be that it would have been better left unsaid, or it could have been expressed in a better way, we must be careful not to get our exercise by jumping to conclusions and assuming that which was never meant.

Secondly, Solomon reminds us that even when we are slandered and sinned against we must remember that we too have sinned and need forgiveness.  If we are unwilling to forgive, we cannot expect to be forgiven. “But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matt. 6:15).  Not only so, those who would be recipients of His mercy must “being reviled, revile not again” (1 Peter 2:23).

Sometimes I hear people say, “I can forgive them, but I can’t forget what they’ve done.”  To be sure, confidence and trust that has been lost because of sin must be rebuilt, and that takes time.  However, to harbor ill feelings or bitterness after someone has repented of the sin committed against us is another matter.  When God forgives, He forgets (Heb. 10:17).  We expect no less of Him.  So it should be with us. 

I once knew a sister in Christ that was upset because another sister had sinned against her.  Although the sin had been long ago repented of, this sister simply could not get over it.  I heard her say one day that she hoped she was on the other side of heaven from the one who had sinned against her.  I suspect that with this attitude this concern will never be realized.

                                                                                         -- Clark Dugger

The Proclaimer